Boardroom tussle: Fidelity Bank CEO, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe battles Nnamdi Okonkwo, begins probe

Trouble seems to be looming for the immediate past Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, who we were informed, might soon be invited to answer some questions relating to his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of the new generation bank.

This, we were told, is a fall-out of how Okonkwo allegedly tried in vain to ensure that the incumbent Managing Director/CEO of the Bank, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe did not succeed him.

It was revealed that Onyeali-Ikpe has since concluded plans to ask Okonkwo to give accounts of his tenure as the MD/CEO of the bank and that the woman has enough facts to nail her predecessor and “pay him back in his own coins.”

Sources within the bank revealed that it’s board is seriously polarised as some of the members were said to still be loyal to Okonkwo and that there were fears that this could rock the boat of the fast growing bank.

We were informed that Okonkwo actually lobbied the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Mr. Ernest Ebi, to allow him hand over to a close ally but that he refused and ordered the management to announce Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe as the new MD/CEO.

The board reportedly made the announcement of the new Managing Director without informing Okonkwo and this, sources said, never went down well with him.

Insiders believed that the new managing director never forgave Okonkwo’s opposition to her emergence and that she had been seeking ways of making him “pay for his sins.”

Sources told us that the first sign that trouble was looming for Nnamdi Okonkwo was the express approval given by the new board of the bank for Onyeali-Ikpe to investigate the activities of her predecessor.

Inside sources disclosed that Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe is passionate about the probe, which she claimed was meant to clean the augeon stable and reposition the financial institution.

“Following a pool of information at her disposal, Onyeali-Ikpe allegedly felt compelled to probe Okonkwo’s activities,” a source said.

Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe, who has played a key role in Fidelity Bank’s transformation, took over operations as the Managing Director of the bank on January 1, 2021, after working for the bank for six years.

Since she took over and started her clean up, some top personnel of the bank have either resigned or have been fired.

Our source disclosed that as at the last count not less than 300 top and middle level personnel have been disengaged from the bank.

However, Okonkwo is not strange to controversies and scandals.

Recall, that the EFCC had arrested Okonkwo and some officials of Fidelity Bank for allegedly receiving $115m from an ex minister of petroleum, Alison-Madueke.

The EFCC had alleged that during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, Alison-Madueke invited the former Fidelity Bank boss to help her handle some cash, which was later allegedly disbursed to electoral officials and groups.

The anti-graft agency had filed charges of money laundering against Alison-Madueke and Okonkwo before the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Those close to the bank revealed that Onyeali-Ikpe has vowed to deal with Okonkwo and ensure that his tenure as managing director is properly scrutinised “to serve as a deterrent to others.”